Sammy’s stylus-infused tablet gets run under our artful eye as we go pen-on with Adobe’s new tablet-based Photoshop Touch

27 February 2012/11:46GMT

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – overview

Take a Galaxy Note, double the screen diagonal, remove the ability to make calls and you’ve got yourself Samsung’s biggest announcement of MWC 2012, the Galaxy Note 10.1 (more details in our Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 official story). In the flesh, Sammy’s new tablet is a slender prospect that oozes quality finish and first-rate usability. Sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin…

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – S Pen

The Galaxy Note strides away from its stablemate, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, with the addition of an S Pen (which you’ll remember from the 5.3in Galaxy Note). The beefier stylus accompanying the Note 10.1 is – as expected – more manageable than the original Note’s skinny pencil, but the results are equally impressive. And what better to show it off than Adobe’s brand new Touch Apps...

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – Adobe Photoshop Touch

Bad news for serious pixelheads: Adobe Photoshop Touch has nothing like the raw power of its desktop CS5 equivalent.

Good news for the rest of us, though: you’re much less likely to tie yourself in graphical knots if you’re an amateur 'shopper. This stripped back approach is a revelation on the Galaxy Note 10.1 (it’s out for iPad, too) and you’ll find all the most useful tools to hand.

Advertisement

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – Photoshop effects

Wacom users won’t be surprised to hear that many of Photoshop’s tricks feel more intuitive on a tablet. Skewing, warping and nudging parameters visually all make sense.

There are tons of tutorials to get newbies going, but old-hands will feel the loss of pinpoint accuracy keenly and keyboard shortcut junkies are bound to let out the odd frustrated squeak.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – notating

Note owners already know the benefits of being able to scribble on their screens, and in its 10.1in edition the overlaid doodles really come into their own.

Here we’ve childishly scrawled over a pic from the front-facing cam, but applications for annotating documents or web pages are evident – in fact, the possibilities are virtually endlesss, even if you never tire of defacing Facebook pics.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – first impressions

We were tempted to scoff at Samsung’s insistence on bringing back the stylus, but seeing the extra potential the S Pen adds to the ubiquitous capacative finger touch makes us think the Galaxy Note has a longer future than anyone at first imagined. Now in its second iteration, the 10.1 points (no pun intended) to a bright future for pen-based tableteering. Of course, our full review will be the better judge of that.